Fewer surfers in the Maldives in 2009

According to World Surfaris, It is highly likely in 2009 that there will be fewer surfers in the Maldives than the last few years.

Worldsurfaris have teamed up with Singapore Airlines and all our Maldives operators to offer the best prices for 2009 to help combat the global economic downturn. Click on the banner below for a summary of the newly discounted Air inclusive packages to the Maldives.

www.worldsurfaris.com/cheapmaldives/

Malé 100,000 people, world's densest city.

With an area of just over 1.77 square Km, Malé has become the densest city in the world ! A quarter of all families in Malé live in one room, a damning report by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) on Thursday revealed. And up to 68 percent of families in the capital are living in accommodation that fails to meet "adequate housing" criteria due to overcrowding, "easily qualifying these apartments as slums by the United Nations definitions," the report finds.

According to the study, Male's population density has increased by 40 percent between 2000 and 2006.According to the study, Male's population density has increased by 40 percent between 2000 and 2006. With almost a quarter of families sharing one room, "families or groups of families have been forced to cook, eat, sleep and defecate all in the same room."Focus groups had said the average number of persons sharing a room have reached five to six persons per room.

Average rent prices per month of a one bed room apartment has risen from Rf 3000 in 2005 to Rf 6000 per month in 2007, while two bedroom apartments rents have increased from Rf 5000 in 2005 to Rf 9000 in 2007.

www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=5530

Blue Lines : a surf film entirely shot in Maldives

A surf film entirely shot in the Maldives featuring the best surfers in Portugal.

- David Luis
- Joao Guedes
- Edgar Nozes
- Ruben Gonzalez
- Paulo Almeida
- Miguel Ximenez
- Francisco Rodriguez
- Tiago Oliveira
- Joana Rocha
- Joana Andrade


Releasing in January 2009
infos : ontheedgeproducoes@gmail.com

www.bluelines.com.pt

Sea level rise : escape plan

The new President of the Maldives says he will begin buying land in other nations as “an insurance policy” in case his nation needs to be evacuated due to rising sea levels from climate change.

Nasheed declared their plans to British newspapers saying a national fund would be established with royalties from the country’s tourist industry to fund land purchases. Sri Lanka and India were obvious targets given their proximity, and the cultural similarities of their people to the 300,000 Maldivians. He also named Australia as a possible destination.



“We can do nothing to stop climate change on our own and so we have to buy land elsewhere. It's an insurance policy for the worst possible outcome,” Nasheed told the Guardian, comparing the concept to Israelis buying land in Palestine. There is much contention among scientists over how much sea levels can be expected to rise this century. The IPCC landmark 2007 report published conservative estimates of a rise of 25 to 58cm by 2100.

In 2005, authorities announced plans to move the 1000-strong population of the Carteret Atolls, in Papua New Guinea, to Bougainville in what were said to be the first climate change evacuations. Their current homes are predicted to become completely submerged by 2015.

www.carbonpositive.net

Sri Lankan Pro 2009 : 8-14 June

The 4th edition of Dhonveli Pro will happen again in Maldives at Pasta Point mid-June. That will be a World Qualifying Series 6star prime, one of the 11 biggest WQS events of the year. Write down this date in your agendas !

Ismael Miglav aka “Issey”

26 years old
First surf experience : 16 years ago
Quiver : 4 surfboards from 5’5” to 6’0
Fav move : Air 180° frontside
Fav surfer : Taj Burrow
Fav’ food : Roshi mashuni (grated fish, coconut and onion), orange juice
Best result : 2003 Maldives champion



It seemed to me that every time I’d go surf the break in Malé, Issey would be there busting some real airs on the rights. Being quite a low profile guy like most of his peers, I did not interact much with him apart from a few smiles in the water. I just knew he was considered as the 2nd best surfer after Iboo.

Then, on one of my trips in the Central atolls, I suddenly saw Issey cruising out of the blue on a small fishing boat. He had injured his knee on an air in Malé and had decided to go home in his native village, he had never been back for 20 years ! For years, he’s been working at the Quiksilver shop in Malé, with a small sponsoring deal and taking advantage of his 25 days vacation a year to go elsewhere. Like he travelled to Australia to compete in a Pro Junior at Narrabeen in 2000. He only stayed there 5 days as travelling there was a huge gap in his budget. He went to Sri Lanka to do a contest in Hikkaduwa and also in Phuket, Thailand for a Quiksilver event.


He started surfing in Malé really young at 8years old, riding local bellyboard first, then bodyboard before Tony Hussein gave him his first surfboard. When he was 10, he got knocked out really bad in the head, consequently leaving a deep fin cut. He had a narrow escape and since then, he admits not being super comfortable in big surf. “Malé can be really powerful and shallow on the lefts, I’ve seen some near-death experiences there”.



It took him 12hours by dhoni to go from Malé to his original village and now he finds out that a really wave breaks next to it “ I’ll come back more often” and teach some village kid to improve their surfing skills, still low because noone was there to show the tricks. Now, they have a master to follow. You might meet Issey as a surfguide on Voyages Maldives boat trips.

Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) new President in Maldives after 30 years of Gayoom

The provisional results of the second round of the presidential elections held in Male’ showed that the MDP Alliance’s candidate, Mohamed Nasheed (Anni), had emerged as the clear winner of the election.

Announcing the provisional results of the runoff elections, the President of the Elections Commission, Mohamed Ibrahim, said that 86.58 percent of those eligible to vote had taken part in the voting. A total of 181,204 people voted in the second round of the first-ever multiparty presidential election held in Maldives.

Incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom managed to win 82,121 votes; 45.79 percent of the total votes and a slight increase from the percentage he won in the first round of the elections.

Mohamed Nasheed won 54.21% of the votes, a total of 97,222 votes. The total number of valid votes was 179,343 while 1,861 votes were deemed invalid. The total number of people who were eligible to vote in the runoff election was 209,294.


www.haveeru.com.mv/english/?page=details&id=24885

Island Aviations gets a 50-seat plane

Last 18 September2008, Island Aviation Services’ airline division newly rebranded Maldivian, has procured a new Dash-8 50-seat plane for their services.

The new “Maldivian” airplane took off from Cairns, Australia with four Maldivians onboard on 11 October and arrived in Maldives last Tuesday afternoon. According to the company, the new plane, purchased from Germany’s Aircraft Asset Management for US$110 million, is the only plane in their fleet that is emblazoned with the company’s rebranded “Maldivian” company name logo and art decal.

Once the new plane comes into service, the number of daily flights to Trivandrum, India will be increase to two flights and IAS has also decided to increase the number of daily flights to Sri Lanka. There is now a fleet of 3 prop airplanes along 2 Dash-8 with 26 seats.

www.airports.com.mv

Maldives September Central atolls report

A group of 8 italian surfers just came back from a trip and send me a report. Some surfers might be interested to know that there are less surfers in fall than summer and spring. It's easy to understand why. Most travelling surfers in Maldives are from Europe, which is increasingly true as the Euro gets stronger against the dollar. And fall in Europe is the best surfing time so a majority of surfers is keen to travel around Europe. Another point is that September in Maldives was ramazan time (10 days ahead next year) and local surfers, who usually surf in the late afternoon, can't really fasten and surf at the same time. That's why local surfers have been away from some lineups like Malé or Muli that month.

Check out this :

Sept13: short session at Malè break, heavy left 1.5 mt,3 locals.
Sept14: Last Stop glassy 1.5/2 mt and few waves at Foxy 1.5 mt sets, tubes shallow inside. (Just 3 other surfers at Foxy))
Sept15 and 4: Muli outside ,1.5 /2 mt perfect and long walls ,light wind, no people.
Sept16 : Hadigilla morning session 1 mt /1.5, almost glassy, few long waves but fun.
Sept17: check Mikado no waves we arrive 16.00 pm at the Machine ,small and a little windy, short session
Sept18 : Machine N wind 1 mt swell getting better
Sept19: Machine 1.5 mt glassy morning and bigger in the afternoon
Sept20 : Machine 1.5 morning and 2.mt sets in the afternoon,big tubes, great session
Sept21 ; Machine perfect morning (four hours session) 1.5 /2mt sets glassy,1,5 in the afternoon
Sept22: Machine last session , glassy 1.5 mt sets.



Rifu was a good guide, giving the right advice on spots and current, the food was very good , the Cook has talent and made cakes too, the crew was ok and the guys on the Dony too.

Just one thing : we had to tell the captain to wake up earlier in the morning because he moved the boat around 7/7.30 to go to the spots,we realised he had many beers those nights cause of ramadam!, but then he was ok, Rifu tolld him to move earlier.

Anyway best trip in Maldives , good waves, no other people around that's the most important thing to keep.

Photos : Giuseppe Arioni - ©Risky Point surf team

Paradise island : the 3rd surf resort in North Malé

It took about 6 month for Lohifushi to turn into Huduranfushi resort over the summer 2006 and in the meantime, Paradise Island set up a surfing service to the nearest breaks. Of course, you can not surf on Paradise Island but Jails / Sultans / Honky’s only stands a 20 minute dhoni ride way. While Chaaya Dhonveli and Huduranfushi now enforce strict exclusivity access over their home left-handers, Paradise now plays third fiddle in the surf resorts without surf but good service to travel to nearby breaks.

Paradise Island is an idyllic setting for surfers who desire access to 5-star facilities. Paradise Island features both water and beach bungalow accommodation, an international dining experience from the island’s buffet, Italian and Japanese restaurants, a Day Spa set in a lush tropical theme and a large variety of water sports activities, including Jet Ski, parasail and diving.

Line up surf the Maldives offers a Dhoni (20 minutes) service twice daily to famous local breaks such as Jailbreaks, Honky’s, Sultans and Full Moon. These leave at 8am and 2pm each day and return by lunch and sunset respectively. Regular trips to Cokes and Chickens are also arranged as well as to breaks on South Male Atoll. A qualified surf instructor/surf guide accompanies each session and coordinates all surf activities from Paradise Island.

Lineup Maldives aims to become the most competitive provider of quality surf resort living in the North Male Atoll and would welcome new customers. Packages begin from $Aus2999 / 1850 €. Casual rates are also available for surfers who desire greater flexibility. Enquiries can be made at sales@tripconcept.com (world) and Lineup@lineup.com.au (Australia). See also www.surfthemaldives.com or email the surf guide directly on Paradise Island on markbcosta@gmail.com for further information.

Magic Seaweed top forecasts

For long, Maldives has been blank on the usual global surf forecasts like Surfline (now there is a detailed forecast). Mainly because there is a very low surf population and because there are no main surf destinations nearby (Sri Lanka does not attract enough surfers). For 3 years, British magicseaweed has been releasing a free 7days forecasts with as many informations as you need (including tides) for an increasing number of spots : Beacons, Honky's, Jails, Lohi's, Malé, Pasta Point, Sultans in North Malé and Tiger Stripes in Gaafu Dhaalu atoll. Although one could expect a more widespread selection of spots (especially in South malé), that range of infos is probably the widest you can ever find on the web.

The 7 day forecast with swell, period and winds is really convenient to watch. Maldives has very consistent medium size surf and Central Maldives is never flat from March to November. More than swell& tides, your enemy is the wind although there is alwats a corner of the reefpass with side offshore winds. December-March is sunny & dry (Iruvai season, NE monsoon) while May-October is rather windy and humid (Hulhangu seaosn, SW monsoon), April and November being the transition months. If you refer clean crisp conditions with eays cruising, come between late-march to mid-may but those are the most requested weeks. The SW monsson starts with 3 or more straight days of rainfall and heavy WSW winds then good weather comes back. For months, there will be an alternance of thunderstorms and sunny spells. While skies are often overcast, it’s rarely too windy (average 10-15 knotsd dominant WSW winds) like the trade-winds belt. Even in June-July, the heart of the SW monsoon, there are still a good number of clean days. Rains are mostly heavy showers, don’t leave your boardbags wipe open ! April is the warmest month and heat remains high (30°c) but not desert-like suffocating. Water remains in the 27-30°c so don’t even think of neoprene unless you expect some protection from reef or sun.The rating system makes it fairly comprehensive to know how good the week ahead will be.

Links :http://magicseaweed.com/Pasta-Point-Surf-Report/572/

Other key forecast websites :
Windguru (7 days- Malé) : www.windguru.cz/fr/index.php?sc=4158

Surfline (Chicken's) : http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/chickens-maldives_6154/

Buoyweather (3 days free, 7 days paying ; nearest virtual buoy SW Sri Lanka) : www.buoyweather.com

Stormsurf Indian Ocean : www.stormsurf.com/page2/links/indiwam.shtml

WQS Dhonveli finals : Hawaiians rule !

Former ASP World Junior champion Kekoa Bacalso (Haw) finally stepped up to the winners plate on the WQS winning in perfect waves at Pasta Point, defeating fellow Dustin Barca (Haw). One of the highlights of the event was the return of ex-world Champion, Sunny Garcia to the qualifying events. Hawaiian Sunny made it to the Round of 16, giving him the 9^th place and 1650 points, definitely a keeper for his 2008 campaign to made it back to the WCT in the 2009 (he’s now ranked 4^th,Sunny is hoping to be the oldest surfer ever to requalify for the WCT at 38.). It was another Hawaiian (Makua Rothman) who beat Sunny Garcia. Five Hawaiian’s came into the final day of 8 surfers for the quarter finals, an unprecedented event in history.

“It was such a pleasure to surf against Sunny who I have so much respect for and to win the heat was great for me today," Rothman said. "The Hawaiians are doing good here because the waves are so good. We know how to surf good waves, powerful full bottom-to-top turns. This is an event that delivers waves so we expect to do well. We’re here as a team and hopefully we can win.”

The quality and consistency of the surf has been amazing all week, starting slowly at 2-3ft, peaking at 5-6ft for the end of the week and being 4-5ft for the finals. With Hawaian measurements ! Most recreational surfers would call those waves at least 2ft, just looking at wave-face. The wind has been low to moderate WSW making slight cross-shores, which blow perfectly offshore on the rights like Sultans or Jailbreaks. Although there has been heats ran at Jails in the past, it’s obviously a logistical nightmare to move judges, production and surfers from Chaaya Dhonveli resort, hosting Pasta Point.

Final : 17.87 Kekoa Bacalso - 14.50 Dustin Barca

Semi-final 1 : 16.83 Kekoa Bacalso - 13.84 Joel Centeio

Semi-final 2 : 15.90 Dustin Barca - 15.17 Leonardo Neves

Best European : Tiago Pires (Portugal, Quarters)

Best Brazilian : Leonardo Neves (Semi)

Best American : Nate Yeomans (Quarters)

Best Australians : Michael Campbell, Phillip MacDonald, Nathan Hedge, Adam Robertson, Drew Courtney (Best of 16, Round 8)

Best South African : Damien Fahrenfort (Best of 48, Round 6)

Best New Zealander : Jay Quinn, Bobby Hansen (Best of 96, Round 5)

Best Japanese : Teppei Tajima (Best of 96, Round 5)

Ranking after 18 events (6 events 5 or 6star prime)

1 Gudauskas,Patrick(USA) 7894

2 Ware,Austin(USA) 7838

3 Bettero,Hizunome(BRA) 7500

4 Garcia,Sunny(HAW) 7215

5 Bacalso,Kekoa(HAW) 7162

6 Weare,David(ZAF) 7113

7 Simpson,Brett(USA) 7075

8 Courtney,Drew(AUS) 6731

9 Yeomans,Nathan(USA) 6706

10 Hedge,Nathan(AUS) 6594

Past 7 WQS winners

2007 Dhonveli Sri Lankan Pro : Heitor ALVES (BRA)

2006 Dhonveli Sri Lankan Pro : Luke MUNRO (AUS)

2005 Lohifushi Deep Blue Oneill : Daniel REDMAN (ZAF)

2004 Lohifushi Deep Blue Oneill : Toby MARTIN (AUS)

2003 Lohifushi Deep Blue Oneill : Trent MUNRO (AUS)

2002 Lohifushi Deep Blue Oneill : Tim CURRAN (USA)

2001 Lohifushi Deep Blue Oneill : Chris WARD (USA)

Hyundai babies take you surfing

It has nothing to do with Maldives ! But that video is such a sweet way to show that surfing has taken over the new generation and definitely goes mainstream ! Okay, 4WD drive is very eco unfriendly but how could the baby drive on the sand ?

Dhonveli WQS 6 star : Maldivian surfers still need to train harder to beat the Pros

After competing in the Atoll Trials on June 8th in sloppy 2ft surf, the top 8 Maldivian surfers have entered the main draw of the World Qualifying Series SriLankan Airlines Pro. The ASP 6 Star Prime has begun at Pasta Point and surf conditions are looking at perfect 3-5ft all week.
After Round 1 of 144, all the Maldivian surfers have finished last in their heats. Here are their scores (Best 2 waves. Out of 20). What happened to Mohamed ‘Billu’ Erushaadh ?

Hussein “Iboo” Areef 8.77

Mohamed Irushad 5.40

Ahmed "Mike" Shihaz 5.26

Abdullah "Fuku" Areef 4.53

Ahmed Aznil 3.50

Azly Naseem 3.20

Mauroof Ahmed 2.17

Out of 96 competitors, only 11 competitors could have been beaten by Iboo’s score. Quite a few Hawaians have been scoring pretty low.But there is definetely a lack of good scores in the Maldivian surf community to really hope that a Maldivian surfer could do well (win a few heats) in that contest. Maldives owns some of the best waves in the world but it will take some years before it breeds some of the best surfers.

8.60 Thomas Bady (FRA)

8.24 Chaz Chidester (HAW)

8.07 Luke Cheadle AUS

8.02 Ola Eleogram (HAW)

7.67 Frederic Robin (FRA)

6.92 Jose Maria Cabrera (CNY)

6.84 Marcelo Nunes (BRA)

6.30 Brent Dorrington (AUS)

5.63 Bear Bailey (HAW )

4.44 Mason Ho (HAW)

3.06 Jake Davi (HAW)

Don't miss the live action all week (last day June15). Check the webcast online !

2007 record year for tourism

With a total of 675,889 tourists, it has been recorded that 2007 had been a record year for tourist arrivals in the Maldives. It was projected that the arrivals would be 8.5% higher than the previous year; however, tourist arrivals exceeded the projection by 3.8% resulting in a 12.3% increase from the previous year.

The monthly arrivals figures are as follows: January (64,570), February (65,224), March (64,491), April (63,171), May (46,602), June (38,457), July (51,025), August (53,168), September (48,468), October (58,706), November (56,797), and December (65,210). With 125,158 tourist arrivals, United Kingdom ranked top among the source markets, followed by Italy with a total of 117,246 tourists.

Third highest ranked was Germany with 72,269 tourists followed by France, Japan and China with a total of 45,301, 41,121 and 35,976 tourists respectively. The total bed nights for the end of 2007 were 5,293,224, and this is an increase of 9.7% than the previous year. The occupancy recorded for resorts/hotels for the year 2007 was 82.9%. An average of 17,511 beds had been operated throughout last year. The average stay of a tourist has increased to 8.5 days for 2007 from 8.0 days in 2006.

Tony Hussein death 2

According to Dara, surfguide at Chaaya Dhonveli, Tony Husseing went surfing on May,27th at Pasta Point. As dara said 'He walked from shore and as he was gonna duckdive a wave, a longboarder went straight to him and there was some weird interaction. Then, Tony was floating face down. I was shooting from the beach at that moment so I jumped in the water to recover him. He had collapsed and was pronounced dead a few moments afterwards. Although he had some injury on the back of his head, it's been said by the doctor on Dhonveli that he had been striken by a heart attack".
Hinde's story, recounted in detail by Shawn Shamlou in The Surfer's Journal, is a rare tale of "Serendipity" and the ultimate result of surf adventure. "It wasn't until Tony's fourth trip (...) in 1975, that waves outside of Male were found," Shamlou wrote. "Tony headed straight for a spot he had seen on a very onshore day, hoping this time it would be the right season. What he found changed his life forever: not one, but two perfect waves breaking off an uninhabited island, an unreal right/left setup (...) After that first hallmark surf, Tony literally peered out from the surf break and sussed out the closest inhabited landmass-Himmafushi Island. That's the island where Tony would live. He'd found the end of his road."

Tony “Hussein” Hinde died surfing on May,27

Maldivian surf legend Tony "Hussein" Hinde died surfing on May,27th

Tony “Hussein” Hinde, the father of surfing in the Maldives has passed away, surfing his home spot at Pasta Point on May, 27th. He was found face down near shore and despite CPR, could not get back to life. What can be believed as a drowning happens only 4 months after the tragic death of his wife Zulfa. Which is an immense tragedy for their 2 kids, Ashley and Mishal.

In December 1973, Tony and his friend Mark Scaunlon shipwrecked in the North Malé atoll in Maldives aboard the Whitewings, a beautiful ketch where they were hired as crew. That changed Tony’s life completely. After a few months of refurbishing the boat, they realized how good the surf is. Tony once sent a postcard saying “I am thousand coulours away from home” And home became the Republic of Maldives where he turned muslim to be able to marry Zulfa and become a Maldivian citizen. For 15 years, he managed to keep the secrecy of worldclass surf in the atolls among a few friends. Which made it one of the best kept secret in the whole history of surf discovery. He was forced to launch Atoll Adventures in the mid-80’s and Tari Village because there were a few foreign plans to develop the surf over there. Tony Hussein always remained the landlord over the camp and changed to Dhonveli Beach & Spa in the early 2000.

Here was Tony making calls for organizing the boats around, together with his partner Mark Scaunlon in May 1999.

Local surfers in Malé will have a paddle out ceremony outside Varunulaa Raalhugandu, the main surfspot in the capital to give a tribute to the memory of their surfing father after his funeral. He will be greatly missed by his family, Maldivian surfers and countless surfing guests that he took care personally at Tari Village and Dhonveli (now Chaaya Dhonveli)

Iboo : still the best surfer in Maldives

Hussein « Iboo » AREEF

Born 23 April 1977, Goofy

In Rasmandhoo (Raa atoll)

Height : 5’6 ; Weight : 52 kg

National titles : 2001, 2002 and 2004

Favorite surfers : Kelly Slater, Rob Machando, Tony "Hussein" Hinde

Because of the booming of deluxe tourism industry, you see a lot of wealthy kids in Malé taking over surfing with brand new boards and expensive surfwear brands. But Hussein Areef, aka Iboo, is not one of them. His father is an humble fisherman, who was working on fishing dhonis in Hasmadhoo on Raa Atoll, on the western side of the country, an unknown place to surf. However, until he was a kid, he would do “Raalhaelhun”, some kind of bodyboard with a wooden plank.

Then, he moved to Malé to study but a close friend named Azlee from Noonu Atoll and Sulja lent him a soft bodyboard and obviously, his parents were not happy at all that he would spend days surfing the local break. They did not want him to become a Vakaruge Kudin : the equivalent divehi word for “beachbum”. After 3 years of stand up surfing Malé, he finally got one day to Honky’s on a good Iruvai(dry season) day. It was a revelation : such a long wave, his legs would be tired halfway through the wave. He managed to keep up with his science studies but in 1997, when Ahmeed Rashid, aka Dara, told him about a job opportuinty at Tari surfcamp, although his parents had asked him to stop surfing, he gave it a try.

It was a tough experience at the beiginning being a shy surfguide among noisy Australians. He’d speak some english but never hung out with foreigners before, it was really hard to act as a surfguide. i.e, explain to the guests how Tari resort works, give them advice on surfing Pasta Point and arrange the dhonis to go to the nearby breaks like Sultan’s, Honky’s at Jailbreaks...Incidently, I happened to lose my board on a fairly big day at Jailbreaks in 99, right after the spot ban had been lifted, and guess who went swimming in the lagoon to pick it up ! Being able to surf Pasta everyday, Iboo quickly became the best surfer in the Maldives and he’s still ranked N”1 even at 31 years of age, despite the grommets in Malé getting better every year.

I met Iboo again in 2002 in Durban where he was leading a small delegation of Maldivian surfers in the World Surfing Games. First time surfing a beachbreak and first time wearing a wetsuit so it was not easy for those guys ! For the last couple of years, after watching some videos, he got into the switch foot thing, willing to go for a change on those perfect peeling waves. Although, he likes to bust airs and reverse tails, still, his favorite move is to get barreled on his forehand as a natural footer. He managed to get a sponsorship from Quiksilver Australia and really plays the athlete game like he quit smoking, which he did fairly heavily for 10 years ! His national ranking entitles him to participate in the Deep Blue O’Neill and now WQS contest at his home spot on Pasta Point.

After 10 years at Dhonveli (now Chaaya Resort) as a surfguide, he’s back in Malé working in the boat operations throughout the country. “Gaafu Dhaalu waves can be heavier than North Malé, there are soft waves too but that’s what I like about Fiyoari or Five Islands, there is real power !” Every year, he gets to travel with his girlfriend in Asia or Australia, wondering then when it will be best time to start a family ! Remember, Iboo has got 6 brothers and sisters and 5 of them surf, so if you go surfing Malé Break, there will be a Areef family member surfing for sure !

WQS 6 Star Pasta Point

Maldives presents SriLankan Airlines Pro

Men's 6 Star WQS Event #16
Pasta Point Maldives
9 - 15 June 2008Publier le message

Up to 15 of the elite 2008 ASP Top 45 will contest the SriLankan Airlines Pro, including last year’s event winner, Brazilian Heitor Alves, his fellow countryman Adriano de Souza, former World No 2 Australian Mick Campbell and Portugal’s Tiago Pires. Pasta Point has produced outstanding quality surf conditions for the SriLankan Airlines Pro over the previous 2 years and ASP competitors favor the event as one of the best on the ASP WQS Tour.

Pasta Point is located on beautiful newly called Chaaya Island aka Dhonveli Beach & Spa aka Tari Village. The 6 Star Prime Rated SriLankan Airlines Pro is a key event in the ASP World Tour offering bonus in ratings points as one of the limited Prime Rated events conducted around the globe, the SriLankan Airlines Pro is a focus point on the tour for the elite of the ASP WQS tour members.

Follow the SriLankan Airlines Pro live via a superb high quality Webcast beginning 9th June 2008. Live vision, commentary, scores, high quality digital images, daily video highlight clips and press releases updated throughout the event. THE SriLankan Airlines Pro prides itself on being an ASP 6 star Prime Rated event, regarded by many as the World’s Premier ASP World Qualifying Series Events held in possibly the HOTTEST waters on the ASP Tour!